Conker | |
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Genre(s) | Platform |
Developer(s) | Rare (1999-2005) Team Dakota (2015) Asobo Studio (2016) |
Publisher(s) | Rare (1999-2001) THQ (2001) Xbox Game Studios (2005-present) |
Creator(s) | Rare |
Platform(s) | Game Boy Color, Nintendo 64, Xbox, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, Microsoft HoloLens |
First release | Conker's Pocket Tales 8 June 1999 |
Latest release | Young Conker 29 January 2016 |
Conker is a series of platform video games created and produced by Rare. It chronicles the events of Conker the Squirrel, an anthropomorphic red squirrel that made his debut as a playable character in Diddy Kong Racing .
The Game Boy Color game is targeted at a family audience. Conker's Bad Fur Day was changed during its development to be based on graphic violence, profanity, and other adult material, which earned the game a Mature rating by the ESRB, with an advisory on its box. A graphically improved but censored version of Conker's Bad Fur Day, along with new multiplayer modes, was released as Conker: Live & Reloaded on June 21, 2005 in North America for the original Xbox. The uncensored Conker's Bad Fur Day was released on Rare Replay and Live & Reloaded has been made backward compatible with the Xbox One.
1999 | Conker's Pocket Tales |
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2000 | |
2001 | Conker's Bad Fur Day |
2002–2004 | |
2005 | Conker: Live & Reloaded |
2006–2014 | |
2015 | Conker's Big Reunion |
2016 | Young Conker |
Conker was introduced at the Electronic Entertainment Expo in 1997. [1] The game Conker's Quest was presented by Rare as a 3D platformer aimed at a young audience for the Nintendo 64. [2] Later the same year, Conker's inclusion in Diddy Kong Racing for the Nintendo 64 was confirmed. [3] In early 1998, Conker's Quest was renamed Twelve Tales: Conker 64. [4] In 1999, Conker made his first solo debut in Conker's Pocket Tales for the Game Boy Color.
During development, the Conker team looked around E3 of 1998 where there were many games that were quite similar or were the same. They realized that there was nothing special or unique about Conker other than it was just another cute platformer. After E3, Chris Seavor came on board as designer. The first level, the beehive, added machine guns shooting wasps which Rare found funny and kept going with this idea to be raunchy and different. [5] After two more years of development, the game emerged as Conker's Bad Fur Day, which targets adults rather than children with its mature content. [6] According to Rare co-founder Chris Stamper: "When people grow up on games, they don't stop playing. There aren't games for people who grew up on the early systems". [7] The game suffered from relatively poor sales, [8] but received a cult following.
After the release of Conker's Bad Fur Day, Rare began development of a new Conker game referred to as Conker's Other Bad Day. [9] [10] Designer Chris Seavor said that it was to be a direct sequel dealing with "Conker's somewhat unsuccessful tenure as King. He spends all the treasury money on beer, parties and hookers. Thrown into prison, Conker is faced with the prospect of execution and the game starts with his escape, ball and chain attached, from the Castle's highest tower". It was never confirmed which console Conker's Other Bad Day was for, but it was likely the Nintendo GameCube as with Donkey Kong Racing. [9] In 2002, Microsoft purchased Rare from Nintendo, so instead of finishing and releasing the game, Rare remade Conker's Bad Fur Day for the Xbox in 2005, renaming it Conker: Live & Reloaded . It features improved graphics and minor alterations to gameplay, and was also censored. It has a new multiplayer adaptation for Xbox Live. [11] After Live & Reloaded, Rare started development on Conker: Gettin' Medieval, an online multiplayer third-person shooter game, but it was ultimately cancelled. [12]
At E3 2014, Conker was announced as a character in Project Spark . [13] In 2015, Conker returned in a new episodic campaign for Project Spark. The campaign, titled Conker's Big Reunion, is set ten years after the events of Bad Fur Day and Seavor reprised his voice role. [14] The first episode was released on 23 April the same year for Project Spark; however, before any more additional episodes could be made, Project Spark's online services were shut down and the game was abandoned. In 2015, Conker's Bad Fur Day was included in the Rare Replay video game compilation for Xbox One. [15]
In 2016, Microsoft announced Young Conker as the next installment into the series, released for the Microsoft HoloLens. The trailer was released in February and was almost universally panned by the public, with many complaining that it lacked the humour and overall style of its predecessors. The trailer received more than 30,000 dislikes against just over 1,000 likes. A petition was created to cancel the game's release but failed. Some video game critics and general YouTube commentators have boycotted the game. [16]
The contrast between Conker's innocent appearance and his coarse behavior has been well-received by the public. Rare listed Conker as the fifth Rare's video game character who most improved with age. [17]
When a Young Conker was showed on Microsoft HoloLens's trailer, it received mostly negative reviews. [18] Chris Plante of The Verge criticized it and said that "Young Conker doesn't feature the original Conker." [19] Sam Loveridge of GameSpy claimed that the scene of Squirrel and the bees is "weird." [20] Meanwhile, Jordan Devore of Destructoid stated about Conker's appearance in Project Spark that there "was no getting around the disappointment of seeing a long abandoned (but never forgotten!) character return not in his own adventure, but in a DLC pack for a videogame about making games." [21]
Donkey Kong 64 is a 1999 platform game developed by Rare and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. It is the only Donkey Kong game to feature 3D gameplay. As the gorilla Donkey Kong, the player explores themed levels to collect items and rescue his kidnapped family members from King K. Rool. The player completes minigames and puzzles as five playable Kong characters—each with their own special abilities—to receive bananas and other collectibles. In multiplayer modes, up to four players can compete in deathmatch and last man standing games.
Rare Limited is a British video game developer and a studio of Xbox Game Studios based in Twycross, Leicestershire. Rare's games span the platform, first-person shooter, action-adventure, fighting, and racing genres. Its most popular games include the Battletoads, Donkey Kong, and Banjo-Kazooie series, as well as games like GoldenEye 007 (1997), Perfect Dark (2000), Conker's Bad Fur Day (2001), Viva Piñata (2006), and Sea of Thieves (2018).
Banjo-Kazooie is a 1998 platform game developed by Rare and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64. Controlling the player characters, the bear Banjo and the bird Kazooie, the player attempts to save Banjo's kidnapped sister Tooty from the witch Gruntilda. The player explores nine nonlinear worlds to gather items and progress. Using Banjo and Kazooie's traversal and combat abilities, they complete challenges such as solving puzzles, jumping over obstacles, and defeating bosses.
Diddy Kong is a fictional character who appears in games belonging to the Donkey Kong and Mario video game franchises, debuting in the 1994 Donkey Kong series game Donkey Kong Country. Rare designer Kevin Bayliss commented Diddy Kong was "penciled in" as a spider monkey, although he is not specifically referenced as belonging to a particular species. He lives with Donkey Kong on Donkey Kong Island in the Kongo Jungle, and is identified by his red hat with the Nintendo logo, and his red shirt with stars.
Jet Force Gemini is a 1999 third-person shooter developed and published by Rare for the Nintendo 64 video game console. The game follows the story of three members of a galactic law enforcement team as they try to stop a horde of drones led by an insectoid called Mizar. It features a single-player mode where the player must explore a galaxy and save Tribals, a race of survivors who have been enslaved and imprisoned by Mizar, and places strong emphasis on shooting large numbers of enemies while dodging their attacks. The game also includes a multiplayer mode where two to four players can compete in traditional deathmatch games.
Conker's Bad Fur Day is a 2001 platform game developed and published by Rare for the Nintendo 64. The game follows Conker, a greedy, hard-drinking red squirrel who must return home to his girlfriend after binge drinking. Most of the game requires the player to complete a linear sequence of challenges that involve jumping over obstacles, solving puzzles, and fighting enemies. A multiplayer mode in which up to four players can compete against each other in seven different game types is also included. It is the second installment in the Conker series, after Conker’s Pocket Tales.
Diddy Kong Racing is a 1997 racing video game developed and published by Rare for the Nintendo 64. The game is set on Timber's Island and revolves around Diddy Kong and his friends' attempt to defeat the intergalactic antagonist, a wizarding pig named Wizpig, through winning a series of races. The player can take control of any of the featured characters throughout the game. Diddy Kong Racing features five worlds with four racetracks each, and the ability to drive a car, hovercraft, or pilot an aeroplane. Timber Island is loosely based on the geographical landscapes of the United States.
Conker: Live & Reloaded is a platform video game developed by Rare and exclusively released for the Xbox in June 2005. The single-player mode is a remaster of the 2001 game Conker's Bad Fur Day for the Nintendo 64. However, it includes a new multiplayer mode using Xbox Live that is different from the Nintendo 64 version. Development started the moment the studio was bought by Microsoft in 2002. The game was made available as a part of Xbox One's backwards compatibility program on April 17, 2018.
Kenneth Alan Lobb is an American video game designer formerly employed by Taxan USA Corp., Namco Hometek, and Nintendo of America, and currently employed by Xbox Game Studios as Creative Director. He is best known as co-creator of the Killer Instinct series.
Banjo-Kazooie is a series of video games developed by Rare. The games feature a male bear named Banjo and his friend, a large female red bird named Kazooie, who are both controlled by the player. Banjo originally made his debut as a playable character in 1997 as part of the cast of Diddy Kong Racing. Throughout the various games, they are tasked with thwarting the various evil schemes of a witch named Gruntilda. The first game, Banjo-Kazooie, was released in 1998 to critical acclaim and was followed by three sequels and a spin-off racing game.
Donkey Kong is a video game series and media franchise created by the Japanese game designer Shigeru Miyamoto for Nintendo. The franchise follows the adventures of Donkey Kong, a large, powerful gorilla. Donkey Kong series include the original arcade game trilogy by Nintendo R&D1; the Donkey Kong Country series by Rare and Retro Studios; and the Mario vs. Donkey Kong series by Nintendo Software Technology. Various studios have developed spin-offs in other genres such as racing and rhythm. The franchise also incorporates animation, comics, and merchandise.
Perfect Dark is a science-fiction video game series created by Rare and owned by Xbox Game Studios. It debuted in 2000 with the release of the Nintendo 64 first-person shooter Perfect Dark. The series follows Joanna Dark, an agent of the Carrington Institute agency, as she uncovers conspiracies by rival corporation dataDyne. In addition to video games, the series has expanded into novels and comics. These supplements to the video games have resulted in a significant development of the series' fictional universe.
Gregg Mayles is a British video game designer currently working for video game company Rare as creative director. He is one of the longest-serving members of the company, having worked there since 1989.
Project Dream was the codename of a role-playing video game (RPG), Dream: Land of Giants, that served as the basis for the 1998 game Banjo-Kazooie. Developed by Rare, it was aimed for release on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), and later the Nintendo 64 (N64). The plot followed a young boy, Edson, who caused trouble with pirates. The SNES version of Dream used an isometric perspective and had a fairy tale theme. After transitioning to the N64, the project became a more complex 3D RPG that had a greater emphasis on the pirate theme. Eventually, Dream was scaled back to a linear platform game in the vein of Donkey Kong Country (1994) that starred Banjo the bear, who became the protagonist of Banjo-Kazooie.
Banjo-Pilot is a 2005 kart racing video game for the Game Boy Advance (GBA) and the fourth instalment in Rare's Banjo-Kazooie series. It plays similarly to the Mario Kart series by Nintendo: the player races one of nine playable characters around tracks, attacking other racers with bullets and collecting power-ups. The game features a number of single-player and multiplayer modes, such as time attack and item hunts. Unlike other kart racing games, characters control airplanes instead of go-karts.
Project Spark is a game creation system video game developed by SkyBox Labs and Team Dakota and published by Microsoft Studios for Microsoft Windows and Xbox One. The game was announced during Microsoft's E3 2013 press event, and was launched as a Windows open beta in December 2013, and an Xbox One beta in March 2014. Project Spark is not available for purchase and online services are also not available as of August 12, 2016. Although no longer available for sale, players can continue to play offline so long as they have both a physical disc, and downloaded local copies of any custom-made creations.
Rare Replay is a 2015 compilation of 30 video games from the 30-year history of developers Rare and its predecessor, Ultimate Play the Game. The emulated games span multiple genres and consoles—from the ZX Spectrum to the Xbox 360—and retain the features and errors of their original releases with minimal edits. The compilation adds cheats to make the older games easier and a Snapshots mode of specific challenges culled from parts of the games. Player progress is rewarded with behind-the-scenes footage and interviews about Rare's major and unreleased games.
Banjo & Kazooie are a pair of fictional video game characters and the eponymous protagonists of the video game series Banjo-Kazooie, created by British video game developer Rare. Banjo and Kazooie were both introduced as player characters in the original Banjo-Kazooie (1998). Banjo is a honey bear who is accompanied by Kazooie, a bird who is often seen seeking shelter in Banjo's backpack and emerging to perform various moves and attacks. The pair's numerous adventures usually pit them against the evil witch Gruntilda.